A Diary over Japan

This is the story of the last few months of WWII in the Pacific, seen through the eyes of one man, a radio operator aboard a B29 Superfortress who kept a diary of 28 missions over Japan. The diary tells of the horrors of war. It was written in darkness, and often fear, with a pen-light during lonely hours confined for up to 18 hours at a time. Herb Greer our main author, 23 years old, frightened and sitting on up to 20,000 pounds of jellied gasoline (napalm),... More Description

This is the story of the last few months of WWII in the Pacific, seen through the eyes of one man, a radio operator aboard a B29 Superfortress who kept a diary of 28 missions over Japan. The diary tells of the horrors of war. It was written in darkness, and often fear, with a pen-light during lonely hours confined for up to 18 hours at a time.

Herb Greer our main author, 23 years old, frightened and sitting on up to 20,000 pounds of jellied gasoline (napalm), while blindly flying through constant flak bursts and fighter opposition. The plane is blacked out save the dull red glow of the instrument panels as they pass through the target area. Suddenly the most intense bright light floods the aircraft, blinding us – the tension in the aircraft shot up, hearts started beating a whole lot faster as we instantly realized that we were being singled out of the sky by a searchlight and were now firmly in the sights of air and ground fire, we were the main act, and center stage. From that moment everything went into slow motion as we pass through the target – seconds felt like minutes and minutes, hours. BOOM, an explosion, the plane rocks, bucks, flak is searing its way through the fragile fabric of the fuselage, loose items are flying around, I’m scared – they say you can taste fear – well they’re absolutely right.

This personal view gives us two perspectives, the first is the story of Herb Greer speaking to us aboard a B29 through the written entries of his diary and then the second recounted from his armchair 60 years later.Written with an immediacy that can only be shared by those who were there, while capturing for posterity their bravery and dignity of sacrifice.

Praise for Fire from the Sky

“This is a book you will not be able to put down …. It is a well-told memoir of the men whose missions will live forever in history! … It was my honor to have read the book; it felt almost sacred to be allowed to look inside a crew member’s personal diary—truly a treasured artifact of historic and sentimental value. This is a book worth reading several times. Great black and white photos as well. I fully recommend … this wonderful book about aviation and the men who crewed B-29s.” —Bill McDonald, president of the Military Writers Society of America

“As an avid reader of military history, I found Fire from the Sky: A Diary over Japan to be both a treasure-trove of information and a stirring—and often startling—look at the air war over Japan in World War II. What comes across in this book is not only the dedication and heroism of a B-29 bomber crew, but also the harrowing circumstances of life and death in the air. Truly a remarkable book, told by a remarkable man who found himself with a job to do that now, in the light of the passage of time, seems like an incredible and mind-boggling achievement. This book richly deserves its Silver Medal Award.”—Robert McCammon, New York Times bestselling author